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September 24, 2016

The baseball regular season is nearing its end, and the MVP
voter’s ballots are due soon. And as
usual there is a lot of talk about who should win and fans of individual
players or teams make passionate arguments to convince others why they should
vote for their guy.

What is the defined criteria for MVP? Well, eligible voters are given the following guidelines:

There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier.

The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931:
1. Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense.
2. Number of games played.
3. General character, disposition, loyalty and effort.
4. Former winners are eligible.
5. Members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team.
You are also urged to give serious consideration to all your selections, from 1 to 10. A 10th-place vote can influence the outcome of an election. You must fill in all 10 places on your ballot. Only regular-season performances are to be taken into consideration.
Keep in mind that all players are eligible for MVP, including pitchers and designated hitters.Ok, nothing too specific, but there is always the
usual controversy over whether MVP means best player in the league, or most
“valuable” to his team.

What’s the difference you may ask? Well, when the best player in the league
plays for a losing team, fans of a good player on a playoff team will use a
variation of “Well, team X could have finished in last without player Y so how
‘valuable’ was he really?” (By the way,
this year X = Angels, Y = Mike Trout).